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Navigating federal and state regulations

The head of Syngenta crop protection says a patchwork of foreign ag land ownership laws could hinder advancements in agriculture. Vern Hawkins says it is challenging to have different sets of rules state by state. “No business or industry can be efficient in an environment like that,” he says. 

He says Syngenta understands states may have different needs, and the company supports that – within reason. “But it is important that if we have a federal approval process with standards that have been endorsed, that we don’t run our company or any other business through a series of red tape and the challenges that disrupt the value that we bring to the American farmer,” he says.

In 2023, Arkansas ordered Syngenta to sell 160 acres of farmland in located within the state.  Syngenta called the move “a shortsighted action”. Hawkins tells Brownfield the land that the company has is for research. “It’s for efficacy trials to prove that our products work in the local communities where we sell them, which is important to US growers,” he says.  “Southern growers have different needs than Midwestern growers.”

In 2017, ChemChina purchased Syngenta for $43 billion.  He says business operations did not change. “We went through a federal approval process through the Committee for Foreign Investment in the US,” he says.  “There’s a number of obligations that we still have since that approval 7 and a half, 8 years ago.”

Hawkins says the company engages with states to provide education and ensure decisions aren’t being made that would adversely impact farmers.

Brownfield recently interviewed Hawkins at the 2024 Syngenta Media Summit in Greensboro, North Carolina.

AUDIO: Vern Hawkins, Syngenta Crop Protection